It Is Not Yet The End
by BenedictedCumberbabe221
Summary: "The only real failure is the failure to try...can we be blamed for feeling that we are too old to change; too scared of disappointment to start it all again." A fanfic for 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' - my new found love - about Douglas' and Evelyn's relationship, Douglyn as I like to call it. There isn't enough BEMH fanfics out there, so anyone reading who want to, DO IT!


_So, there aren't enough fanfictions for 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' and I feel it my duty, as an avid fan of this film, to right this wrong. This one focuses on Douglas and Evelyn's relationship - they are the cutest, most adorable couple ever and they make the film for me. This chapter is focused upon what happened between them in the film, to set up my story. Then in further chapters I will kind of make stuff up and make them be the most awesome-cute couple ever._

_So enjoy this section that you already know, and return for some Douglyn of my own - when I get the time to write it: exam season is a petty thing._

_And if you, dear reader, like me want some more BEMH fanfiction in the world, get writing my friends and message me if you post any, I would be extremely interested to read them. _

_Bear with me with this; this chapter might seem pooey, seeing as I'm just writing the film in my own words, but I wanted to kind of set it up etc. So please bear with. _

_Thank you for popping in and reading. _

_Leave a review etc. _

_Thanks!  
-meg _

* * *

Evelyn knew for certain as soon as she had looked into Douglas' kind eyes that beautiful night that he had become more than a friend to her; the night he had saved her from being run down by a mad motorist, who had tore through the dusty street. They had been chatting, ambling through the Indian night. Warm it was and above the stars glinted in the dark sky, happy in each other's company as they had been for the past few weeks.

At first they talked about Graham and Manoj and Gaurika and how Gaurika had known about her husband's first love. Then it had moved on to how Douglas was set to visit the Badi Mahal Palace the next day - he was very excited. Then suddenly he had flung himself at her, hugging her tightly as he pulled her away from the road, the motorist zooming onward, without even a backward glance.

That was when, still in his embrace, she had looked up at him and he looked at her. Then slowly he brought down his arms, coughing and staring at the floor. There was an awkward silence and they had let the world pass by a moment, before an Indian man approached them, having obviously just witnessed their embrace and began a cacophony of 'romantic' music.

At first Evelyn and Douglas had stood silent, just listening to the music, but then a laughter took her, and they both chuckled.

* * *

She wished she could have told him then, but she knew it was impossible. He was married and although it was obvious that the love, if it had ever been there at all, had all but evaporated between Jean and Douglas, he was still loyal to his wife.

Anyhow, Evelyn felt a bit disloyal herself; feeling love so close to Hugh's passing. They had spent a long time that night wandering the lively streets of Jaipur, chatting and laughing. It was past midnight when they returned to the hotel room. There they wished each other goodnight and retired to their own rooms. Douglas was awaited by a quietly irate Jean, who was sat up straight in the bed, an unread book in her hand.

* * *

There had been something from the very moment they had met. In the airport back home, Douglas had spotted Evelyn searching for a seat, and offered the one beside him by removing his bags that lay upon it. Then on the plane they had chatted greatly and he made her laugh through the whole journey.

Evelyn had taken an immediate dislike to Jean, although she never let it show. Jean was a selfish, uncultured woman who spoke 'one' once too often. Not only that, but she treated Douglas as if he were a slave under her control; he did as he was told. And the amount of flirting she put Graham's way was enough to make the whole group cringe, but Douglas seemingly ignored it.

From that point, she had known they would be good friends, but little did she know how her feelings would grow for him over their time spent in India.

* * *

Then a few minutes after their arrival at the hotel, Douglas had abandoned his room and Jean, for she had gone to find the hotel manager to bleat into his face how awful this hotel was compared to the advertisement, and he had come up to her room to make sure she was okay. Then he had tried to fix her phone for her.

"Um, have you tried, um, jiggling it about a bit?" he had asked.

"Yes, I've done that."

"Did you kind of bang it lightly on the desk a few times?" he had then gone on to say, as he was as completely flummoxed by technology as he was.

"Yes I did that too," she replied sighing with a smile.

He picked it up and held it to his ear. "Right," he muttered to himself, as he tried in earnest to come up with a way to fix the phone for her. She carried on unpacking her things, happy that he was there to keep her company. She watched as he fiddled with the phone. He had no idea what he was doing.

Evelyn decided to strike up a conversation.

"How do you come to be in India?" she enquired.

He still played about with the phone as he replied, "Oh, I invested our, well my, retirement money in our daughter's internet company. She assured me that as soon as the start up, actually um, started up and the conversion from virtual to actual became sufficiently viable, then she'd be able to pay it all back."

"Not sure I understand what most of those words mean," Evelyn replied.

"Well, it turns out, neither did she," he smiled back, then putting the phone to his ear once again he said, "Ah! There you are. Good as new!"

He put the phone back on its holder, and looked at Evelyn in triumph.

"Really?" Evelyn exclaimed as she reached for the phone.

"No, of course not," he smirked, and Evelyn laughed. It was one of the first times she'd laughed properly since Hugh had died. That's what she liked about Douglas - he could make her laugh. He laughed with her.

"Now, would you like me to not fix that chair? Because I can almost certainly do that and all."

They laughed together.

That had been their first conversation alone.

* * *

The next day Douglas had ventured off into India to a temple, while Evelyn had gone to apply for a job. She had wished she'd gone with him, and wished more so when he spoke to her that night.

She had been talking to Graham, when the Ainslie's had arrived for dinner. Jean had been her usual self - averse to local food and culture, joking that the only aroma in the air was elephant dung. But Douglas mostly ignored her jibes at the country.

Then he had addressed her, softly and kindly, "You really should see this temple."

"Oh, I'd like to very much."

* * *

It was after he had saved her from the motorist, and after Graham's sad passing that he had embraced her again. After Graham's death, she had thought about Hugh and how much of a failure she felt to him, but Douglas had been there.

He had pulled her into his arms and they remained that way until Mrs Ainslie appeared, her face angered, then she had stormed off to the comforts of her own room, shouting Douglas' name as she went.

Douglas looked at her sadly, wanting so much to stay with Evelyn and comfort her, but Evelyn said 'sorry' and scurried away, embarrassed and upset.

She had done her best to collect herself before she joined Madge and Norman on the rooftop.

"Are you alright?" Madge asked, instantly concerned for her friend, as she noticed the sadness upon her face.

"I just want a glass of water," Evelyn said as she brought a glass to her lips and sipped.

"That was a gin and tonic..."

"Mm...I know that now," Evelyn said, her voice melancholy.

"What's happened?" Madge enquired.

It was at that point that the Ainslie's had joined them, Douglas' face forlorn, Jean's as stern as always. Evelyn didn't look at him as they drew near, and Douglas kept his sight to the floor.

"Ah, the Ainslie's," Norman welcomed. "How are you both?"

"We're particularly well," Jean answered, but this statement was belied by Douglas' upset face and Jean's stern eyes. "Douglas, tell them our news."  
He stayed silent. "We're going home," Jean carried on.

In that moment, Evelyn's heart jolted and she had to look up then, at Douglas, who was stooped beside his wife, miserable, keeping his eye contact as far away from Evelyn as he could.

* * *

The next day passed and Evelyn did her best to avoid Douglas as best she could. Not because she wanted to, simply because if he was leaving it would make it easier. Easier for her to forget about him, stop being attracted to him. She laughed inwardly; of course that was never going to happen. She was as in love with him as she had been with Hugh, and she saw it in his eyes and his smile, that so often came her way, that he felt the same about her.

They were returning to the hotel and the group were all convening to a taxi. It was at this point, so close to the hotel, she thought it would be best to walk alone.

She said this, and hesitantly Douglas said, "Perhaps, you would like one of us to accompany you."

Of course he meant himself, but she was sticking by her rules - ignoring him the best and nicest way she could. She shook her head, then turned to Mrs Ainslie who, although was a quite detestable person, she felt sorry for. Probably because nobody here had taken a shine to her.

"I'm so pleased about your daughter's success, and that it's all worked out so well." In fact she wasn't pleased at all. If she hadn't found success, Douglas wouldn't be leaving.

"Thank you," Jean said before seating herself in the taxi. At that, without a look Douglas' way, Evelyn stepped away, and moved toward the phone booth ahead. Douglas stood and watched her walk away; he wished he could run up to her, tell her how he felt. But for some stupid reason, he didn't.

His wife was still there and while she was there he would always be loyal, no matter how much it hurt him. He also wasn't sure of bringing up how he felt about Evelyn to her. He thought she liked him too, but he couldn't be sure. Was she still yearning for Hugh? So he stepped up into the cab and watched her until she'd turned out of sight.

Evelyn phoned her son, her voice cracking because now that she was alone, out of sight of her friends and talking to her son, her emotions suddenly exploded. By the end of the call, she was nearly in tears.

Then she saw Sonny.

She shouted his name and he turned and made his way toward her.

"Mrs Greenslade. Where are the others?" Evelyn immediately caught on that something was wrong.

"They on their way back to the hotel, what's the matter?"

"I wanted to warn you of the most momentous changes that are occurring. Absolutely all of them without question, for the very positive," he spoke like a robot, the words conveying happiness, but his face belied them.

"What are you talking about?" she asked slightly bemused.

"I am delighted to announce the closing of the Marigold Hotel, and the joyful return of all its inhabitants to their home country."  
She let that sink in a moment.

"What?"

"And for myself, the news is even better," he took a seat, his eyes glazed with tears. "I shall be moving to Delhi to live with my mother and furthermore I shall be wed to a most suitable person of her choice, whom I look forward very much to meeting before I spend the rest of my life with her." As he finished, Evelyn sat beside him.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"She is my girlfriend no longer."

"This is a disaster."

"Then we must treat the same way as we would treat a triumph, madam. Is that not what your Mr. Kipling tells us? Although, of course, here we have a problem, because I, Sunil Indrajit Kapoor, have never had a triumph. So, of course, I do not know how to treat one. No, all I've had is a constant series of disasters interspersed with occasional catastrophe, an unending stream of total-"

Before he had a breakdown, Evelyn stopped him.

"Sonny, do you love her? Sunaina?"

"Most deeply!"

"Have you told her you love her?" she asked.

"It is because I love her that I must not tell her. She can do so much better than me, madam."

"Women love it when you say things like that, it's a powerful aphrodisiac," she replied sarcastically.

"Really?" Sonny asked, completely missing the sarcasm.

"No of course not!" she exclaimed, touching his arm. "Go and find her at once before she starts to believe you and you lose her forever. You can have anything you want Sonny!" Then her mind skipped to Douglas again and the next thing she said was still aimed at Sonny, but partly speaking to herself. "You just need to stop waiting for someone to tell you, you deserve it. Or you could just keep failing yourself and hurting the people you love-"

But then Sonny jumped up, exclaiming, "Mrs Greenslade! Stop drilling! You have struck oil madam!"  
And off on his motorbike he sped, Evelyn smiled at the fact she had made a difference, then started her slow return to the hotel.

* * *

When she returned, she heard Jean Ainslie squawking impatiently at an Indian who was packing their bags into a taxi. Sadness fell upon her again, and without wishing to be spotted by Douglas, she walked into the hotel courtyard.

"Would you rather not see him?" A voice asked. Evelyn's head turned to see Muriel Donnelly looking at her, questioningly. Evelyn knew that Madge and Norman had been aware of the closeness between herself and Douglas, but it had never passed her mind that Muriel would have guessed too.

"No - I do, but I think it would be better if I didn't," she spoke slowly and sadly. Muriel nodded and went back to her paper. Evelyn took the steps up to her room, and stayed out of sight from the courtyard.

A few moments passed before Douglas returned into the hotel. Like Evelyn, he didn't notice Muriel, and when she spoke to him, he stopped in surprise.

"She's not back yet."

"Ah," he looked up at her balcony, sadly. He had so much wanted to see her again. One last time. "Right." Unbeknownst to him, Evelyn peeked around the wall on the balcony. Her eyes were sad, and she longed to go down there and say goodbye. Tell him how she felt, ask him to stay. But she didn't.

"Well then, perhaps you could tell her that I said, um..." he paused, as if he were going to say something else. Instead he said, "Goodbye."  
With that, he stepped out of the hotel a final time, Evelyn woefully watching his every step.

* * *

_Blog entry_

_Day 51. _  
_The only real failure is the failure to try. And the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment; as we always must. We came here, and we tried; all of us in our different ways. Can we be blamed for feeling that we are too old to change; too scared of disappointment to start it all again. We get up in the morning, we do our best, nothing else matters._

* * *

The next morning as she readied herself for work, she sat and watched the sky brighten as the sun rose. She sat and thought about Douglas. She thought about how she had lost the chance to tell him, to start again. Then morosely, under the soaring heat of India she left her room and made her way to work.

She was just leaving the entrance when she saw him. It was like a dream, and he had come back. He had his suitcase in hand, and was without Jean. She looked at him and her heart fluttered with happiness. He stopped and they took a moment to look at each other.

"You're still here," she said.

"I missed the plane."

"What about Jean?"

"She...didn't." he dropped his suitcase on the floor. "I had quite an interesting night actually. I met the same taxi driver, and I let him take me to his brother's hotel. Which turned out to be less of a hotel and more of a brothel, really." Evelyn smiled. "And they gave me this pipe, and told me it was apple tobacco, but that's not what they called it when I was a student. So I made my excuses and left. I needed time to think," he paused as if he wasn't quite sure what to say. "This city at night, is extraordinary. I think the apple tobacco helped...probably," he joked.

"I'm going to be late for work," Evelyn stated and made her way to pass him. She smiled at him warmly as he picked up his fallen suitcase and began to walk to the hotel room. But then he turned.

"Um, at what time do you finish?"

"I get back about five."

He nodded, "Tea time."

"Yes."

"How do you take it?"

"With a little milk."

"Right."

Then they both turned and both felt completely happy. For a moment, Douglas wanted to tell her everything, how he felt, why he came back, that he loved her; but then she'd be late for work so he carried on, telling himself that he would tell her that night, over a cup of tea, with a little milk.


End file.
